When Good Fit is Bad: The Dynamics of Perceived Fit

In the “quest” (Delone and McLean 1992) for reliable and practical measures of IS success, a growing stream of research has argued that a key predictor of performance impacts is user evaluations of fit between task requirements and characteristics of the system or technology (Goodhue and Thompson 1995; Vessey and Galletta 1991; Jarvenpaa 1989; Goodhue 1988). The argument is that a better fit produces better performance — good fit is desirable. It has also been argued that users are quite capable of reliably evaluating fit (Goodhue 1995). While both intuitively and empirically there is some support for these notions, evidence presented in this research suggests that users can misperceive their fit with technology. Furthermore, it is argued that such misperceptions of fit can inhibit learning and productivity with technology (generativity), and at the extreme may lead to catastrophic decision making by users (Weick 1990). The basis for these arguments draws on work in ecological psychology, cognitive science, and organizational theory to identify four types of fit, and focuses particularly on the process dynamics of how fit emerges from user-technology interactions

Inaccurate age and sex data in the Census PUMS files: evidence and implications

We discover and document errors in public use microdata samples ("PUMS files") of the 2000 Census, the 2003-2006 American Community Survey, and the 2004-2009 Current Population Survey. For women and men ages 65 and older, age- and sex-specific population estimates generated from the PUMS files differ by as much as 15% from counts in published data tables. Moreover, an analysis of labor force participation and marriage rates suggests the PUMS samples are not representative of the population at individual ages for those ages 65 and over. PUMS files substantially underestimate labor force participation of those near retirement ages and overestimate labor force participation rates of those at older ages. These problems were an unintentional by-product of the misapplication of a newer generation of disclosure avoidance procedures carried out on the data. The resulting errors in the public use data could significantly impact studies of people ages 65 and older, particularly analyses of variables that are expected to change by age.Census ; Population ; Labor supply

Inaccurate Age and Sex Data in the Census PUMS Files: Evidence and Implications

We discover and document errors in public use microdata samples ("PUMS files") of the 2000 Census, the 2003-2006 American Community Survey, and the 2004-2009 Current Population Survey. For women and men ages 65 and older, age- and sex-specific population estimates generated from the PUMS files differ by as much as 15% from counts in published data tables. Moreover, an analysis of labor force participation and marriage rates suggests the PUMS samples are not representative of the population at individual ages for those ages 65 and over. PUMS files substantially underestimate labor force participation of those near retirement ages and overestimate labor force participation rates of those at older ages. These problems were an unintentional by-product of the misapplication of a newer generation of disclosure avoidance procedures carried out on the data. The resulting errors in the public use data could significantly impact studies of people ages 65 and older, particularly analyses of variables that are expected to change by age.Current Population Survey, American Community Survey, Census, disclosure avoidance, aging, data, sex, labor force participation, marriage

User Behavior and Decision Making: The role of decisional Guidance in Decision Support

The very nature of decision support systems (DSS) is to guide and support the user. Yet decisional guidance has surprisingly not dominated empirical DSS research. In this research we examine the role of decisional guidance in decision support. We postulate that the effect of decisional guidance on decision outcomes is mediated by the subjective experience of the user in interacting with the DSS. Furthermore we develop a theoretical and empirical analysis of the different role decisional guidance plays for users of different levels of domain expertise: novices and experienced (but not expert) practitioners. Using a purpose built experimental platform with 135 subjects we find the effects on decisional guidance on perceptions of the DSS and confidence in decision outcomes varies interactively between type of guidance (informative versus suggestive) and level of expertis

Cognition Matters: Enduring Questions in Cognitive IS Research

We explore the history of cognitive research in information systems (IS) across three major research streams in which cognitive processes are of paramount importance: developing software, decision support, and human-computer interaction. Through our historical analysis, we identify “enduring questions” in each area. The enduring questions motivated long-standing areas of inquiry within a particular research stream. These questions, while perhaps unapparent to the authors cited, become evident when one adopts an historical perspective. While research in all three areas was influenced by changes in technologies, research techniques, and the contexts of use, these enduring questions remain fundamental to our understanding of how to develop, reason with, and interact with IS. In synthesizing common themes across the three streams, we draw out four cognitive qualities of information technology: interactivity, fit, cooperativity, and affordances. Together these cognitive qualities reflect IT’s ability to influence cognitive processes and ultimately task performance. Extrapolating from our historical analysis and looking at the operation of these cognitive qualities in concert, we envisage a bright future for cognitive research in IS: a future in which the study of cognition in IS extends beyond the individual to consider cognition distributed across teams, communities and systems, and a future involving the study of rich and dynamic social and organizational contexts in which the interplay between cognition, emotion, and attitudes provides a deeper explanation of behavior with IS

Science and the IS Researcher: Building an Empire Without Walls

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a radical alternative perspective into the debate on diversity, and the use of reference disciplines in IS research. It seeks to provide the foundation for a philosophical dialectic from which a new synthesis of the opposing views on the debate may emerge. Specifically, it is argued that the boundaries that divide academic disciplines are merely social conventions; products of convenience and individual and group self-interest. In contrast to this socially constructed view of scholarly inquiry, it is argued thatscience is a common good and that maturity of a field and of a researcher is evidenced not by defending the walls of a scientific empire but by contributing to the broader scientific community in which scholars in all fields may participate. The paradigm promulgated here is one of intellectual development and knowledge sharing that breaks down the walls of disciplines, views knowledge holistically, and considers the spread and evolution of ideas as the most important goal of all researchers. More than justa philosophical ideal, with the advent of the world wide web this new paradigm becomes a very real possibilit

Inaccurate age and sex data in the Census PUMS files: Evidence and Implications

We discover and document errors in public use microdata samples ( PUMS files ) of the 2000 Census, the 2003-2006 American Community Survey, and the 2004-2009 Current Population Survey. For women and men ages 65 and older, age- and sex-specific population estimates generated from the PUMS files differ by as much as 15% from counts in published data tables. Moreover, an analysis of labor force participation and marriage rates suggest the PUMS samples are not representative of the population at individual ages for those ages 65 and over. PUMS files substantially underestimate labor force participation of those near retirement ages and overestimate labor force participation rates of those at older ages. These problems were an unintentional by-product of the misapplication of a newer generation of disclosure avoidance procedures carried out on the data. The resulting errors in the public use data could significantly impact studies of people ages 65 and older, particularly analyses of variables that are expected to change by age

More Enduring Questions in Cognitive IS Research: A Reply

In this short reply, Michael Davern, Teresa Shaft, and Dov Te\u27eni respond to Glenn Brown and Jeffrey Parson\u27s dialogue paper, More enduring questions in cognitive IS research

Content Versus Structure in Information Environments: A Longitudinal Analysis of Website Preferences

From the prospective traveler surfing the web for cheap vacations to executives analyzing market trends with a data warehouse, at home and at work, people are confronted with increasingly richer information environments. This study is an attempt at modeling the behavior over time of the “information consumer” (web surfer or executive) in such environments. The objective is to gain a better understanding of how to design the technologies that support and enhance the interaction with these information environments. Two key design variables for information environments are examined: content quality and structural quality. Drawing on research in human-computer interaction and ecological psychology, a behavioral model is developed in which it is postulated that the importance of structural quality will diminish with time, whereas content quality will increaseinimportance. Atwo-stagemethodologyisemployedwhichcombinesalongitudinalexperimentwith a cross-sectional survey. Both the survey and experiment are conducted in the context of informational websites. The experiment provided 178 undergraduates with repeated exposure over several weeks to eight custom-built websites, manipulated to vary in content quality and structural quality for which their preferences (and associated rationales) were elicited at three time points over the course of the experiment. Additionally, 163 of the undergraduates also completed a survey providing data about the effect of content and structure on usage behavior for sites for which they had mature experience. Preliminary results of the experimental data support the hypotheses. The research has potentially significant implications for the design of information environments

Inaccurate age and sex data in the Census PUMS files: Evidence and Implications

We discover and document errors in public use microdata samples ("PUMS files") of the 2000 Census, the 2003-2006 American Community Survey, and the 2004-2009 Current Population Survey. For women and men ages 65 and older, age- and sex-specific population estimates generated from the PUMS files differ by as much as 15% from counts in published data tables. Moreover, an analysis of labor force participation and marriage rates suggests the PUMS samples are not representative of the population at individual ages for those ages 65 and over. PUMS files substantially underestimate labor force participation of those near retirement ages and overestimate labor force participation rates of those at older ages. These problems were an unintentional by-product of the misapplication of a newer generation of disclosure avoidance procedures carried out on the data. The resulting errors in the public use data could significantly impact studies of people ages 65 and older, particularly analyses of variables that are expected to change by age.